The Healing Process: Photography, Body Positivity and Therapy

he healing process

Body-positivity photographer Darshan Stevens opens up about her own journey. Interview by Paul Rouse.

Canadian photographer Darshan Stevens already has one successful career behind her. She’s now forging ahead with another: as a therapist.

“Before I started my private practice as a counsellor,” she explains, “I worked full-time as a professional photographer. Now I primarily work as a therapist, with a little photography on the side. But I strongly believe the two go hand in hand.”

After attending photography school to study photojournalism, Darshan worked for ten years, shooting mainly weddings and portraits.

“Getting a little bored, I decided to start a project in the sphere of body positivity, and thus the Bed Sessions were born: nude photos of couples, families or individuals in a style that I think is more akin to naturism than erotic nude photography. In other words, it’s people just hanging out naked or partially naked, or with some of the subjects naked and others not.”

Leap

It wasn’t a huge leap for Darshan, who describes herself as “a sex-positive person” and for whom naturism is second nature.

“I think erotic nudes are wonderful, but in this series I am showing that nudity doesn’t always have to equate to sex. It is the casual treatment of nudity that, even if I say so myself, makes them work.

“I want us to reclaim our naked bodies and no longer have nakedness used as a vehicle of oppression via religion, advertising and patriarchy. When we are programmed to believe that nakedness is shocking, shameful, sinful or titillating, the people or institutions that teach us this are able to exert power and control over us.

“If we have the ability, privilege and interest to say, ‘No, you can’t use my nudity against me,’ it’s a powerful message.”

It helps, of course, that Darshan is a naturist herself.

“I’m a member of my local club in British Columbia, called Sol Sante. It’s a wonderful place with a thriving, albeit small, population of fun-loving folks.

“My husband Alex and I have also travelled a few times to Zipolite in Mexico. We were there for a couple of the early gatherings of the Festival Nudista. But mostly, we’re naked closer to home.

“Cortes Island, where we live, is a nudist-friendly paradise with gorgeous lakes and beaches. After living on the island for 13 years and swimming hundreds of times, I can count on one hand the number of occasions when we’ve had to wear bathing suits.”

Backdrop

Darshan’s ‘backyard’ offers the perfect backdrop for much of her photography work and was part of the inspiration behind the Bed Sessions.

“I came up with the name because the early shoots focused on the dynamics of two people lying around in bed together. But it quickly evolved into indoor and outdoor sessions.

“The shoots frequently feature my own home, garden and the beach in front of it, although sometimes I travel to the homes of the people featured in the shoots. Luckily, I haven’t had to do too much promotion: the subjects usually approach me after seeing other photo series on my website.”

How would she describe her style?

“I love beauty. Not necessarily conventional beauty, but the beauty that is interesting, that makes us think, that makes us reflective and that makes us feel something.

“Although I conceptually like the philosophy of documentary photography, which is how I was trained, my personal style has evolved into a kind of mixed-media approach. I combine organic moments with more orchestrated elements to make the photographs representative of my aesthetic.

“I like photography as a medium because I can combine the candidness of moments that happen naturally with my personal touch in the lighting, orientation, props and so on. It’s similar to how I paint, where I choose the colour, texture and elements I am going to include.

“In photography, I arrange my subjects and environment in a specific way. For example, I invite my clients to bring props such as books, instruments or pieces of clothing—anything that feels as though it represents them.

“I use filters, cloths and lights in front of my lens to create a blurry, soft or partially focused effect. I use light to obscure some things in the frame while highlighting others. I work with my subjects so that their expressions, poses and proximity convey something about the way I see the world and the way I feel in it.”

Approach

Some photographers distance themselves completely from their subjects. Darshan’s approach is the exact opposite.

“It’s probably fair to say that I use my photography, and my art in general, partly as a tool for self-reflection.

“The photographs I love the most—the ones I display—say something about the subject, about the connection between the subjects, and about nudity and the politics of nudity. But they also say something about me and what I consider interesting, compelling and beautiful, and essentially what it feels like to be me in the world.

“This may sound a little selfish, but I think it gets to the heart of what most, if not all, artists are trying to do. That is, to use art therapeutically to understand themselves and see a deeper understanding of who they are reflected back at them in a three-dimensional, tangible reality.”

As she admits, that might also have had something to do with her move into therapy.

“I suppose I’ve become a therapist because I see things so much through a ‘lens’, in every sense of the word. It’s an opportunity for digging and being curious about our reactions, our expectations, and what we can learn about ourselves and the world through processes like this.

“Can we be curious about our reactions? Can we forge a kind of bond by going through this process together? It’s like going on a journey together and encountering things that surprise and inform us along the way.

“I understand that this might sound a bit pretentious! But I do think art and therapy are both collaborative processes.”

Move

Making a mid-life career move has therefore been part of Darshan’s own journey.

“When I began as a photographer, I assumed it would be a dream come true, but I discovered that I don’t really travel well. I have also suffered at times from depression and anxiety.

“I’m a fairly introverted person with sensory-overwhelm issues, so I become stressed and anxious with a lot of travel. We would also have had to move from our home on the island to make it easier to continue with photography full-time, and we weren’t willing to upset the work-life balance we had achieved.

“I retrained as a therapist and can now do that from our home, while my husband—who is also a photographer—looks after our small child and his elderly mother.”

That does not mean the photography has been left behind. Darshan explains that she still uses some expressive-arts techniques in her sessions with clients, although the primary area in which she now works is a type of trauma therapy called Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS).

Her specialisations include younger people struggling with anxiety or depression; issues related to sexual orientation, confusion or curiosity; patients living with chronic pain; people affected by conspiracy-theory addiction or engulfment; and survivors of cultic or high-control abuse.

“The latter, in particular, fascinates me,” she says. “My interest in cults and conspiracy theories was sparked by friends and family members becoming fascinated and subsequently radicalised through online conspiracy theories such as QAnon.

“Seeing the dramatic shifts in people I care about has made me passionate about increasing access to therapy for those attempting to deradicalise. I also want to promote cult education so that people are less susceptible to indoctrination by these elements.”

Agenda

Also on the agenda is setting up a series of retreats that incorporate creativity and combine it with IFS therapy.

“My belief is that our bodies carry healing resources and possess an innate wisdom and inclination to move towards wholeness and well-being.”

It is in this respect that she believes she can truly combine her two main passions: photography and therapy.

“I look forward to picking up my camera again in earnest, with more maturity and life experience under my belt. I hope to approach photography in a way that is more nourishing and less prone to burnout.

“I’m a more confident person now, possibly partly because I’m not as financially dependent on photography to survive. When it was the mainstay of our income, the margins were slim to none and we worked all the time. It was a recipe for stress and the sapping of creativity.

“When I start working again as a photographer, I will have my career as a therapist as my main source of income, so I will be able to be more selective about the projects I want to work on.

“I’m also hoping to continue with my nude shoots. I’d like to create more diversity in the portfolio because, right now, if I’m honest, it does trend towards white, cisgender, young, able-bodied and slim.

“As I have found, there’s a much bigger world out there.”

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